Rayon Sports head coach Olivier Karekezi has said that the replay of the Super Cup game against rivals APR FC should follow the standard rules and regulations as stipulated by FIFA.
Saturday Rayon Sports 2-0 APR FC (63rd minute)
Rayon Sports head coach Olivier Karekezi has said that the replay of the Super Cup game against rivals APR FC should follow the standard rules and regulations as stipulated by FIFA.
The Super Cup game between league champions (Rayon Sports) and Peace Cup winners (APR FC) was called off in the 63rd minute on Saturday night due to power failure at Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu.
Referee Abdul Twagirumukiza called off the game after a delay that lasted 30 minutes due to darkness. Rayon Sports were leading 2-0 and seemed destined for a second successive victory over their archrivals that they also beat 1-0 to win the Agaciro Cup last weekend.
According to the FIFA regulations, in such situations, the game can be played for the remaining minutes at the same venue.
However, FERWAFA president Vincent Nzamwita said the full game will be replayed at the same venue but the referees, the Competitions Commission, Rayon Sports, APR and sponsors Azam will be involved in taking the final decision.
During the game, power went off twice in the first half for ten minutes while in second half the stadium was plunged into darkness for about 30 minutes forcing the ref to call off the game.
"It was a technical problem in power installation. When power went off, technicians tried to rectify the problem, but they failed. The full game will have to be played but the final decision will be taken on Monday,” Nzamwita said on Saturday night.
Karekezi said Rayon is anxiously waiting for the decision, which he hopes will be based on FIFA regulations.
"Let’s wait and see if they are going to follow standard rules and regulations. This is football and people have to enjoy, so people in charge of Rubavu Stadium should have made proper plans to make sure that game goes ahead without failure,” Karekezi told Times Sport.
His counterpart Jimmy Mulisa of APR FC admitted that, "We don’t have a problem if they decide that we replay the full game but the organization should be better than today (Saturday).”
"This is big game and you would expect even the organization to be on high level. You don’t want to see such things happen in such a big game but we have to wait for the final decision,” he added.
According to FERWAFA officials, the Competitions Commission will sit on Monday (today) to take a final decision on when the game will be replayed.
As stipulated by the FERWAFA Super Cup and FERWAFA Competitions Regulations, the Competitions Commission must sit within 48 hours from when the game was called off, to take a final decision.
Leading 2-0
New signing Ismaila Diarra gave Rayon Sports the lead in the 34th minute off an assist by Burundian international midfielder Pierrot Kwizera, who went on to score the second goal with a powerful header in the 62nd minute off a cross from Eric Rutanga on the left wing.
APR had their chances to score through Issa Bigirimana, Muhadjir Hakizimana and Maxime Sekamana but they failed to hit the target.
Earlier, APR FC had been reduced to ten players after midfielder Amran Nishimiyimana received a straight red card in the 38th minute for elbowing Rayon Sports defender Thierry Manzi in the face. Before the game, each team had received three million for preparations from the sponsor AZAM, while the winner will earn Rwf5 million on top of a trophy and the loser will walk away with nothing.
The game serves as a curtain-raiser for the 2017/18 league season scheduled to kick off on September 29.
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